Hot sites, cool sites: HVAC/R

As the winter heating season moves upon us in earnest, plant engineers' thoughts turn to boilers, fuel supplies, energy costs, and other HVAC/R related topics.

By Jeanine Katzel, Senior Editor

11/01/2000

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As the winter heating season moves upon us in earnest, plant engineers' thoughts turn to boilers, fuel supplies, energy costs, and other HVAC/R related topics. Information on heating and cooling issues, both comfort and process, abounds on the internet. A variety of sites have come to our attention that we'd like to share with you as the temperatures drop. As always, if you know of other useful sites in this area that we've missed, let us know and we'll share them at a later time.

HVAC dot com

vHVACindustry.com is a resource that provides a wealth of industry-specific material and facilitates b2b electronic commerce between members of the HVAC community. Features include a forum for sharing ideas, exchanging information, and finding solutions; product information; network for finding the right service people in your area; and job central, an employment resource for those seeking work in the HVAC field.

The attractive, easy-to-navigate sight sponsored by eForay Corp. now also includes HVAC Mart, a feature to promote buying and selling of equipment or components online. An HVAC Auction resource is planned for the future. In addition, the home page includes industry news and links to related sites.

vHVAConline.com provides b2b e-commerce services for the HVAC/R industry. In addition to enabling electronic transactions among distributors and manufacturers of equipment, it offers the latest in industry news; job services; and a variety of industry tools, technical tips, and resources. The site is a BuildNet Community.

vHVACPortal.com bills itself as "the home page of HVAC industry." It includes easy-to-access information on HVAC publications, organizations, education, operation and maintenance, trade shows, codes and standards, software, and more. Topics range from clean rooms to indoor air quality.

vEnergyLane.com is devoted to energy management professionals, and specifically includes facility and maintenance engineers among their target audience. The site offers guided searches, industry news, technical papers, case studies, how-to material, codes and standards information, and more. Links to related sites are also supplied.

In most cases, the sites allow home page customization. Most also encourage visitors to register or join to access all information areas.

HVAC/R motherlode

Information and resources on nearly all aspects of HVAC/R will be gathered in one place at the 2001 International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition (AHR Expo) January 29-31, 2001 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. More than 1000 exhibitors will be on hand to display their wares and discuss their products.

The event is cosponsored by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (www.ashrae.org) and the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (www.ari.org) and honorary sponsor, Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Institute of Canada (www.hrai.ca). For more information, visit www.ahrexpo.com.

Annual Salary Survey

Before the calendar turned, 2016 already had the makings of a pivotal year for manufacturing, and for the world.

There were the big events for the year, including the United States as Partner Country at Hannover Messe in April and the 2016 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September. There's also the matter of the U.S. presidential elections in November, which promise to shape policy in manufacturing for years to come.

But the year started with global economic turmoil, as a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing triggered a worldwide stock hiccup that sent values plummeting. The continued plunge in world oil prices has resulted in a slowdown in exploration and, by extension, the manufacture of exploration equipment.